#tolls

Track list predictions (leak-free)

"Try and come for my job." -Taylor Swift

My current thoughts about the life of a showgirl album have been centred around the Truman show and the connections that are increasingly alluding to the remaining vault tracks, but with a little less than 24 hours to go (closer to 12 by the time I post this) until it's officially released I wanted to share what my (leak-free) initial thoughts were about the track titles before it's too late.

During the New Heights podcast, Taylor had described how each song was comprised of layers upon layers of references that were based on the experiences she had gone through behind the scenes throughout the eras tour. But as we know, the eras tour is a compilation of the individual eras that span the entirety of her career. With this in mind, my initial interpretation of this description was that she was actually alluding to how each track lines up with an individual era when paired up chronologically. With the tortured poets department album feeling like the completion of the eras chapter of Taylor's career, this album feels like it's going to provide more of a birds eye view of Taylor's entire career.

Taylor Swift

The fate of Ophelia

"So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time."

All of the focus on reputation and the lost karma era over the last couple of years has always felt like a distraction to prevent anyone from focusing on what was hidden within the vault tracks from the debut era, especially when there was never a portion of the eras tour purely dedicated to the Taylor Swift album. The 'picture to burn' lyrics (mentioned above) in particular left me wondering if there was more to the two remaining re-records than meets the eye. What if this era conceals not just the vault tracks, but the original version of Taylor too? I can see 'the fate of Ophelia' following the storyline of the Lion King where Simba was presumed dead but was actually living a life in exile—instead of the traditional ending of the Hamlet play—in order to prepare everyone before the exiled version of Taylor ultimately returns once more.

Fearless

Elizabeth Taylor

"'Cause you took me home but you just couldn't keep me."

At first 'Elizabeth Taylor' was the one song I was least excited by because I'm not well versed on the lore behind Elizabeth Taylor. Now the more I look at it, I become more intrigued by the different connections that can be made with various parts of her name. "E.T. phone home!" came to mind initially. And then Taylor as a surname was an obvious connection to Taylor, but it also had me considering the surnames of Taylor's friends—Dakota JohnSON for example. That example then lead me to breaking down Elizabeth's name and I've been intrigued by the name Beth ever since. Notably, this name is connected to Ed Sheeran's song 'Tenerife Sea'—as it's infamous for being written in Nashville, contains Taylor's TS initials and ends with "and in a moment, I knew you, Beth." It's apparent that this subtle connection between Taylor and Ed's music is a platonic one, but the parallels between their music runs deeps and I feel like there's so much that we're yet to discover with this one. In terms of this song being connected to the original fearless era, I wonder if Taylor is going to lean into sharing more about how Taylor concealed her privacy with the creation of the 'boy crazy' Taylor™ during this era?

Speak now

Opalite

"Never imagined we'd end like this."

There's something about the opalite stone being man made that feels connected to the speak now album being entirely self written and the story of the Lorax in some way. When both represent the fight for authenticity and the ability to grow naturally–in a world where manufactured ways of living are celebrated and traditional methods of creating are tolerated. "I speak for the trees." After all, Taylor was the voice of Audrey in the Lorax movie—who acted as a catalyst for the main character Ted going off in search of real trees—as she was the one person who stopped to consider what life would be like if they ended the cycle of relying on bottled air to breathe instead of perpetuating it. Those in charge (who benefitted from the system staying the same) tried to do everything they could to stop them, but it wasn't until they showed the community that there was an alternative way of living that they were able to finally begin creating lasting change that would benefit everybody.

Red

Father figure

"I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now."

I'm really interested to see which direction Taylor takes this song now that we know that she's interpolated George Michael's 'father figure' song from the 80's. Unfortunately the queer themes in this song are already being erased or diminished by many swifties. It's worth noting that Taylor said that every lyric in this album was intentional, so I'm sure that also includes the songs and people she's referencing throughout this album too. When I started associating the new tracks with Taylor's previous eras, one connection in particular stood out to me the most: and that was the 'everything has changed' song that features Ed Sheeran as the father figure in the music video (again, platonically of course). Since Ed got married and started having a family, he's now changed the lyrics of 'Tenerife Sea' to end with "and in a moment, I knew you best." I can't help but notice how eerily similar that sounds to the chorus of 'everything has changed'. So what do I think all of this means? For a while now I've been theorising that Ed was the original collaborator Taylor began working with (in a New Romantics sense) to help break the mould by helping to share her story through his own music when she wasn't able to make the music she wanted to while she was still working with her old record label. A lot of the patterns we've seen repeating over the last couple of years (similar similarities within Gracie and Sabrina's music for example) seems to be replicating what was kept hidden in the past so that we can start to understand just how far Taylor had to go to share her truth with the world.

1989

Eldest daughter

"They are the hunters, we are the foxes."

The initials of 'eldest daughter' lining up with the ED Taylor developed during the 1989 era isn't lost on me. I don't feel the need to expand on that further, but wanted to point it out for anyone who might appreciate a heads up on the potentially triggering themes of this song—especially if this album is connected to the post-1989 world tour vault tracks. As a fellow eldest daughter, this is definitely one of my most anticipated songs from the new album. Another connection Taylor could make with this song includes metaphors that reference the fact that she was so vocal about paving the way for others to pursue having conversations around the ownership of their own masters, so that they wouldn't have to overcome the hurdles that stood in her way. With the connection between Ed representing the father figure in Taylor's story—a la 'Mary's song (oh my, my my)'—will this song reveal who was cast as their eldest daughter?

Reputation

Ruin the friendship

"Is it cool that I said all that?"

'Ruin the friendship' definitely holds the potential to be subversive. There is no doubt in my mind that this is poised to be about Blake Lively, but will actually turn out to be about Taylor burning bridges as she was leaving her old record label. Ruin the friendship by falling in love vs ruin the friendship by making enemies. When you look at the 'delicate' music video from a non-romantic perspective, it's essentially telling a story that parallels the Truman show. Out of all the songs on this new album, this song feels the most likely to be linked to Taylor's escape plan, the karma door and all of the exit signs.

Lover

Actually romantic

"You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes."

This song has the most potential to shock everybody, especially if it's taking a literal approach by exposing how she fell in love with her best friend and/or a muse that many have written off in the past. More realistically though, I can see it either being absurdly satirical or an incredibly deep cut as a reflection of the lover era. What I'm most sure of is the fact that this song has the most potential to feed both sides of the fandom at once, while also furthering the divide between both narratives. Or, in other words, the picket fence scene towards the end of the 'you need to calm down' music video: "'cause shade never made anybody less gay." The unreliable narrator version of Taylor is definitely going to be merciless with this one.

Folklore

Wi$h li$t

"And then it was bought by me."

What did Taylor really buy? Her masters or the freedom to share the truth about the folklore love triangle in her own words? The dollar signs in the title of this song could also be connected to all of the various numbers Taylor has used throughout her discography. In addition, the 'wi$h li$t' title and the cover of the folklore album with the giant redwood tree certainly feels connected to the Lorax story about saving the trees. The 'out of the woods' music video also portrays a version of Taylor growing into a tree, as if she was preserving a side of herself in the forest that would eventually re-emerge again in the future—much like Simba returning to pride rock (will she take that literally?) in the Lion King.

Evermore

Wood

"Life was a willow, and it bent right to your wind."

Ugh, I know what this song is not going to be about. Evermore lining up with 'wood' like this had me wondering if I was on the right track by comparing each track to the various eras, as the material is certainly a dominant element of evermore's autumnal aesthetic. The Pinnochio references are most likely to be tied into this song (or 'father figure'), but I also wonder if Taylor will instead play into the would homophone if it's not going to make 'would've, could've, should've' feel too repetitive. Beyond the surface level connections for wood, this could either lean into the burning heart associated with this album or the sale of firewood being a metaphor for the music industry. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a reference to the three little pigs in this song and the varying houses they had built in an attempt to keep the big bad wolf at bay. And if that's the case, are we due to see a third iteration of the lover house that can withstand the storm that's brewing?

Midnights

CANCELLED!

"Midnights become my afternoons."

Is meeting Taylor at midnight cancelled too? The dichotomy between this song lining up with the midnights era instead of the lover era is astounding—especially with both the 'ME!' and 'CANCELLED!' titles sharing the same bold style and the similarities that were echoed between the two albums as they bookended the eras tour each night. I can't kelp but wonder if the karma door motif being used throughout this album release period is a reflection of Taylor and Ice Spice ascending the Truman show style stairs, only to lasoo the moon and Saturn instead of following in Truman's footsteps by exiting out of a karma style door? This divergence from the ending of the Truman show is what had me questioning if this bait and switch (failed coming out vs soft launch) had been her plan for the lover era all along.

The tortured poets department

Honey

"I can tell when someone still wants me, come clean."

I can't wait to see how many layers of honey references Taylor has woven throughout this song. I was initially wondering is she would reference Billie Piper's cover of 'honey to the bee', but with the innuendo woven throughout that song I'm unsure if Taylor is willing to purposefully feed into that (while she's with Travis) when there's already such a huge demand for it. However, an unexpected connection she could make with this song is with the honey badger, which is often associated with Hufflepuff, and in turn—Luna Lovegood. "Because we're crazy." In terms of the overall theme of this song, I'm anticipating an extended metaphor for how she went about boiling the frogs in order to conceal her private life. "Sweet like honey, karma is a cat(s)." Will this song also touch on why she ghosted Jack? Or continue the royalty concept by focusing on the Queen (bee)? With 'honey' pairing up with the tortured poets department and it's anthology, there is so much potential to explore the concept of duality (sugar and spice, honey bee workers vs honey pot traps etc). These two lining up certainly fits with the collective parallels between a bee hive and the tortured poets department too. And in that case, could this be the sequel for the 'New Romantics' as an image to the New Romantics collective who are working to create positive change within the entertainment industry?

The eras tour

The life of a showgirl

(Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)

"Oftentimes, it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me."

And my predictions for 'the life of a showgirl' title track? That can be summed up by the previous tweet I'd made after listening to Sabrina's new Man's best friend album. To quote myself: "If Taylor Swift has built a career centred around her dating life to keep her private life private, Sabrina Carpenter is following in her footsteps by building a career centred around her sex life." Much like the theme of 'Clara Bow', this feels like a display of mentorship and a deeply personal confession. "She'll know the way and then she'll say she got the map from me. I'll say I'm happy for her then I'll cry myself to sleep." This song is most likely to encapsulate the eras tour as a whole and to provide a moment of self-reflection. As the last track on the album, I'm incredibly interested to see what kind of tone Taylor embodies for this song, as well as the sound. On the podcast she described how the whole album will be upbeat and infectious, so does that imply that we won't be getting any slower songs that typically make up the second half of her albums?

The funeral

TS 0 - TS 12

"And to my children I leave 13 cents each."

While the life of a showgirl album title carries the connotations of an obituary—themes of death, self-harm and self-destruction are nothing new within Taylor's lyrics. In fact, they've become so normalised within the fandom that phrases such as "because she's dead!" have caricaturised Taylor's persona to the point where the darkness lurking within this album has (for the most part) gone unnoticed. This image of Matryoshka dolls was from a previous post I'd made on the 8th of August last year in an attempt to try to visualise the concept of each era representing a seperate persona in the form of a horcrux. Looking back at it now with the added context of the death of a showgirl conversations we've been having, I can't help but notice how it seems to represent the fight that breaks out over the will in the funeral scene of the 'anti-hero' music video—and as an overarching metaphor for the divide that keeps the swifties and the gaylors at opposing ends of the fandom. So, if the will revealed that we were left with 13 cents each and 12 are now used up with each era, that means that there's only one left. But what could it be spent on when (for the most part) one side is waiting for the karma (bleachella) version of Taylor—that was scrapped in favour of the reputation era—to hatch, and the other is hoping for the inner queer Taylor—that was first concealed by the introduction of the Taylor Swift era—to finally emerge from her cocoon? Are we essentially stuck in a snake vs butterfly stalemate? Or has the decision already been made for us? Perhaps the "everyone will betray you" written on the chalkboard during the 'anti-hero' music video implies that the first token (TS 0) was already used up when Taylor entered the music industry? After all, you can't checkmate a king that's already trapped in a checkmate...

See you next era,

Kylie x

Is there any way to get fees waived on late payments?

Example: I live in a state with a lot of tolls. I don’t have ezpass and have to pay at the toll. They also have an option where if you dont have cash you can get a ticket to pay online later.

However, the ticket takes 24 hours to activate and once activated is only available for 5 days. I have AuDHD and I constantly forget to go back and pay the tickets.

I now have over $1000 in ‘violations’ even though the total amount of the tolls I have neglected to pay is well under $50. If I could just pay the original amount I owed, I would be able to easily. But they throw $50 fines on $2 or less tolls and I cannot afford to pay all the fines.

If I leave this unpaid will this negatively affect my credit score? Is my car at risk of being repossessed? Please help, I’m so scared

Honey, that is some predatory nonsense. Sounds literally like highway robbery!

I think you need to invest in an EZ Pass or some other way to automatically pay the tolls. Because it's going to save you money in the long term.

Next, you need to call the toll company and work out a payment plan. As with most late bills, the company would rather get paid SOMETHING rather than nothing at all. You should ask them if they can waive all or most of the fees (literally just ask--this works about half the time I've ever asked on late fees and overdraft fees). Offer to pay something up-front to show a good faith effort in sticking to a payment plan.

While they can't repossess your car for late fees, this can and will damage your credit score if they report you to collections. So you want to get ahead of the situation before it gets to that point.

Lastly, let's look at the root of the problem: Your ADHD. It is literally costing you money, and I bet it's not just through these late fees. Talk to a therapist or an ADHD support group about how to set up systems for managing your ADHD symptoms so that they won't lead you into financial trouble again. Here's more advice:

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD